Remember back in August when Google said their native Search app for iOS would be updated soon? Well today is the day, and the update is a good one. You can use your voice to ask Google for answers, then listen as the app replies in it’s own spoken voice. The new version is available now, in the App Store.
The Google app runs on all recent iOS devices, so that means you can get Siri-like results on your old iPad 1 or 2, or even your iPhone 4. As long as it can run iOS version 4.2 or higher, it’s good to go. It will also use the extra available screen real estate on the iPhone 5.
The updated app uses the “faster and significantly improved” voice recognition with streaming text that Android 4.1 users have enjoyed for awhile. This all means that you can now speak your queries in natural language, there’s no longer any need for short commands, you can use full sentences and statements to make queries.
I tried queries like “What’s the weather like right now?”, and the app replied by telling me the local temperature, while it displayed the weather info for my location on the screen. I said “find me a restaurant,” and the app’s voice replied that there were several listings for restaurants less than a mile away, and showed me a map, al0ng with the search results. Everything worked very smoothly, and extremely fast. In most cases the results were returned faster than Siri did with the same query.
Most importantly, when asked, “How much wood could a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?” (I love how the query appears on the screen as you speak it, allowing you to see instantly if any corrections are needed), The Google voice replied “A woodchuck would chuck as much wood…”
Google apparently submitted the app to the App Store in August, but it was rejected for reasons neither Apple or Google would go into.
The new Google app is well worth the update, or download if you don’t already have it installed. Looks like Siri has some competition. I love stuff like this, it pushes everybody to make their app just a little better than the other guy’s app. It’s going to be fun to watch!
The new version is available FREE, in the App Store. (DIRECT LINK)
